Sweet Second Chance!
Chopped, no more! Four previously-defeated chefs get a second chance at the $10,000 prize! Coming into this competition they could not have wanted a victory more, but will they want to call it quits once they see the mystery ingredients in the appetizer round? Then in the entrée round, the competitors' own hearts skip a beat at the sight of lamb hearts in the basket. And with just minutes left in the round, a frightening kitchen accident has everybody shaken. With an off-the-wall mystery ingredient in the mix in the final basket, the chefs are totally floored. And in a very physical dessert round, the finalists both yearn desperately to achieve sweet success at last. Contestants *Lance Nitahara, Executive Chef, Camp-of-the-Woods, Speculator, NY *Siggy Sollitto, Chef and Restaurateur, Siggy's Good Food, Brooklyn Heights, NY *Yoanne Magris, Chef and Restaurateur, Yo In Yo Out, New York, NY *Chris Coombs, Chef and Restaurateur, Dbar, Boston, MA Judges *Marc Murphy *Amanda Freitag *Geoffrey Zakarian Meal Appetizer Ingredients: Pancake Mix, Guava Nectar, Aleppo Peppers, Asian Style Beef Jerky Chef Siggy: Beef Jerky Pancakes with Lime Guava Dressing Siggy made for the judges a beef jerky pancake topped with fresh salad in a lemon, lime, guava dressing. Geoffrey found it very flavorful, and liked how she made the beef jerky almost taste like lamb. Amanda liked the spice level from the aleppo and the counteraction of the cooling salad. Marc liked the acid in the dish, which he felt made it very well rounded. However, he would have liked the pancake to be crispier. This was a result of Siggy trying to make one big frittata in the pan and due to lack of time. Chef Lance: Asian Style Sopa de Carne Seca Lance prepared an Asian-inspired sopa de carne seca, with dried beef and guava in it and tempura chives. Geoffrey thought it was an inspired first dish and that he rehydrated the beef very well, as well as pulling out the right flavors in the beef. However, he found that it was a tad too sweet and a bit oily. Amanda loved the balance of the dish and the tempura chives. Marc also loved the look of the tempura chives and thought that it tasted even better. He remarked that Lance really knew how to bring complexity to the basket ingredients. He agreed with Geoffrey that it was too sweet and there was a lot of oil on the top. Chef Yoanne: Beef Jerky Crêpes with Guava Vinaigrette Yoanne presented goat cheese infused beef jerky crêpes with baby arugula in a guava vinaigrette. Amanda loved what she did with the beef jerky, and made it taste like savory ham and cheese. Geoffrey remarked that the sourness of the goat cheese worked well with the aleppo pepper and balanced the dish out. Marc found the mixture with the goat cheese very interesting. On the negative side, he felt it needed some acid. Chef Chris: Rehydrated Beef Roulade with Guava Reduction Chris prepared a rehydrated beef roulade with goat cheese, onions, and a guava reduction. Chris was not a fan of the ingredients at all, Marc noted that Chris needed to roll with the punch. He also felt that he had sucked all the flavor out of the beef by rehydrating it. Geoffrey liked the roulade. He also found the guava with the butter very rich and the best use of the guava. Marc and Amanda felt that the dish needed some spice, and it was ironic because he was given a whole bag of aleppo peppers and didn't highlight it. Chopped: Chef Chris was chopped. The judges felt that he wrestled with the ingredients a lot, and they weren't highlighted in the dish. Entrée Ingredients: Fresh Wasabi Root, Crab Apples, Collard Greens, Lamb Hearts Chef Lance: Lamb Heart Stuffed Collards with Compote Lance made lamb heart and collard parcels over cinnamon grits with a crab apple wasabi compote. Marc found him grinding the lamb hearts and putting it in collard parcels a brilliant move. Amanda was impressed at the wild creativity, and she tasted the bacon and seasoning in the lamb heart. Geoffrey noted that Lance didn't take the skin off of the bacon, and his collard green was very tough, feeling that Lance fell short on technique. Both Geoffrey and Marc found the grits completely bland. Chef Siggy: Moroccan Lamb Heart Stew with Crab Apples Siggy prepared a rustic, Moroccan style, lamb heart stew, with crab apples, sautéed collard greens, with fresh wasabi and pine nuts. Geoffrey liked how hearty the dish was, and found Siggy really developed the flavors. He also enjoyed the pine nuts. Amanda enjoyed the spices that the lamb hearts were coated in. Marc was unhappy that the lamb hearts weren't cleaned properly and were still full of veins and arteries. He also found issue with the crab apples still having their cores, which was done because Siggy liked the way it looked. His final complaint was that is wasn't very creative, but just chop everything up and throw it in a stew. Geoffrey countered and reminded him that's what a stew is. Chef Yoanne: Lamb Heart Provençal with Collard Purée Yoanne served lamb heart provençal with a wasabi and collard green purée and a crab apple, red wine reduction sauce. Amanda found the dish beautiful, with the color of the collard, the beautiful crab apple, and the deepness of the heart. She also found the tenderness of the heart amazing. Marc was not only impressed by how she cooked the heart, but loved the crab apples. Geoffrey liked how she repurposed the collard greens by puréeing them with potatoes and how tender the hearts were. However, both he and Marc found that the purée was underseasoned. Note: While preparing the dish, Yoanne fell and spilled boiling water on her legs, receiving second-degree burns on both legs. Despite this, she decided to continue. Chopped: Chef Siggy was chopped. While the lamb hearts were delicious, they still had veins and arteries, and the crab apples weren't cleaned. For that reason, she was chopped. Dessert Ingredients: Duck Eggs, Russet Potatoes, Farmer's Cheese, Honey Herb Cough Drops Chef Yoanne: Duck Pain Perdu with Chocolate Potato Truffle Yoanne's desert was a duck pain perdu with farmer's cheese on top, and a bittersweet chocolate potato truffle with cough drop syrup on the side. Geoffrey stated that he had tried many different pain perdu's before, and this was pain perdu to a whole another level, and that the farmer's cheese was great with it melted over. Amanda agreed with Geoffrey and noted that she liked that the crust was crispy, but found that the truffle was a bit too thick. Yoanne countered that it was more of a mini cake in a Chinese spoon. Chef Lance: Gnocco Frito with Honey Herb Ice Cream Lance made a gnocco frito with the potato, farmer's cheese, and chocolate, with a honey herb cough drop ice cream. His original plan was just to do an anglaise, but decided to make an ice cream instead. Amanda liked the ice cream a lot, finding the texture silky and noting he took a lot of time making it. Marc felt that it was commendable that he made gnocchi and ice cream, but the gnocco frito was bland. Geoffrey also felt that they were doughy and gummy, and he didn't taste any chocolate. Lance explained that he didn't want to add too much sugar to contrast with the sweet ice cream. Chopped: Chef Yoanne was chopped. The judges explained that they were highly impressed, and only by a molecule Lance pulled ahead. However, Lance decided to give Yoanne the $10,000 so she could visit her sick grandmother. Notes *Siggy and Chris competed together in the same original episode.. Category:Episodes Category:Guava Nectar Category:Collard Greens Category:Season 8 Category:Duck Eggs Category:Chopped Redemption Category:Crabapples Category:Beef Jerky Category:Aleppo Pepper